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Since the announcement that Amazon would be choosing the city that would host its second headquarters by the end of the year, competition between contenders has been heating up. 6sqft reported last month that Newark, still in the running along with Los Angeles, Denver, Miami, New York, Boston, three sections of the Washington, D.C., region and Toronto, approved a shiny new incentive in the form of ordinances offering nearly $1 billion in payroll tax exemptions to companies that create at least 30,000 jobs and invest $3 billion in the city over 20 years. Now, Jersey Digs reports that a group consisting of local residents and a California-based architecture firm have come up with a snazzy proposal for Amazon’s HQ2 that includes a location and designs for a futuristic complex that would include Newark’s tallest towers.

Since Amazon announced they’d be deciding which city would become the location of the mega corporation’s second headquarters by the end of the year, competition between contenders has heated up. Along with 20 cities that include Los Angeles, Denver, Miami, New York, Boston, three sections of the Washington, D.C., region and, in Canada, Toronto, Newark is still in the ring from an initial field of 238 possible locations. On Wednesday the city approved a new addition to the $7 billion package the state is offering to sweeten the pot in hopes of scoring HQ2, as it’s being called. The added incentive comes in the form of a trio of ordinances offering nearly $1 billion in payroll tax exemptions to companies that create at least 30,000 jobs and invest $3 billion in the city in the coming 20 years, Bloomberg reports.

With major renovations underway at both JFK and LaGuardia Airports, Newark is the latest to join the crew. Grimshaw Architects has just announced its involvement building a new terminal at Newark Airport, the third airport serving New York City. According to dezeen, Grimshaw will serve as lead design architect, alongside design firm STV and contractor Tutor Perini/Parsons, to build a two-leveled, T-shaped building spanning one million square feet with 33 different gates.

Lotus Equity Group announced on Monday plans to bring the largest mass timber office building in the United States to the Newark waterfront. Michael Green Architecture has been tapped to design the 500,000-square-foot office building made with a wooden structure for Riverfront Square, a massive mixed-use development proposed for the Broad Street corridor of the Jersey neighborhood, according to the Wall Street Journal. The building will rise in three separate sections to six, eight and 11 stories tall and have a concrete foundation. Its columns, exterior panels, elevators, stairwells and floor systems will be made of mass timber. Interiors will boast exposed wood with a facade covered in metal panels, brick or wood.

A new proposal from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would extend the PATH system’s Newark to World Trade Center line from its current terminus at Newark Penn Station to the Newark Liberty Rail Link Station (Airport Station) at Newark Liberty International Airport. The addition would allow better transit access to and from the airport for Lower Manhattan and Bergen, Hudson, and Essex Counties in New Jersey–there is currently no pedestrian or bus access to the Airport Station. The Port Authority is holding two public meetings this week in Newark to discuss the project’s scope.

Like most things in New York, creative communities come and ago as new development and rising rents force artists to move on to the next best, or cheaper neighborhood. While 6sqft found ‘hoods like the Upper East Side, Harlem and Long Island City to be the best places for artists a few years back, we’ve updated our top-10 list to reflect the changing times. Ahead you’ll find some areas you may expect–Sunset Park and Bushwick, for example, along with more up-and-coming artsy enclaves like Newark, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx.

With Hoboken long gone and Jersey City well in the throes of gentrification, it makes sense that Newark is the next New Jersey city poised for a renaissance. Not only is it easily accessible via both NJ Transit and the PATH, but its wealth of former industrial buildings lend themselves to a DUMBO-esque revitalization. In the up-and-coming downtown area, Newark native Richard Meier is behind Teachers Village, a 23-acre, mixed-use complex that is well on its way to restoring a sense of community to the neighborhood. The $150 million project will encompass three charter schools, ground-level retail, and 204 residential units with a preference given to educators, all located in six new buildings designed in the starchitect’s signature style of white materials and gridded facades.

Change is coming quickly for Newark, New Jersey, where many are pegging the long-troubled city for a renaissance akin to Brooklyn’s. In January, city officials and developers unveiled their plans for Mulberry Commons, a 22-acre development in Newark’s downtown that would not only bring forth new residential, commercial, and office space*, but also a three-acre park and a High Line-style pedestrian bridge that would connect the Ironbound neighborhood to Newark Penn Station and the central business district. According to the Newark Department of Economic & Housing Development, the city is expected to benefit in excess of $500 million from the project.